scholarly journals South Georgia blue whales five decades after the end of whaling

2020 ◽  
Vol 43 ◽  
pp. 359-373
Author(s):  
SV Calderan ◽  
A Black ◽  
TA Branch ◽  
MA Collins ◽  
N Kelly ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Frequency Analysis ◽  
Current Distribution ◽  
Line Transect ◽  
Blue Whale ◽  
South Georgia ◽  
Photo Identification ◽  
Time Period ◽  
Acoustic Surveys ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
Blue Whales

Blue whales Balaenoptera musculus at South Georgia were heavily exploited during 20th century industrial whaling, to the point of local near-extirpation. Although legal whaling for blue whales ceased in the 1960s, and there were indications of blue whale recovery across the wider Southern Ocean area, blue whales were seldom seen in South Georgia waters in subsequent years. We collated 30 yr of data comprising opportunistic sightings, systematic visual and acoustic surveys and photo-identification to assess the current distribution of blue whales in the waters surrounding South Georgia. Over 34000 km of systematic survey data between 1998 and 2018 resulted in only a single blue whale sighting, although opportunistic sightings were reported over that time period. However, since 2018 there have been increases in both sightings of blue whales and detections of their vocalisations. A survey in 2020 comprising visual line transect surveys and directional frequency analysis and recording (DIFAR) sonobuoy deployments resulted in 58 blue whale sightings from 2430 km of visual effort, including the photo-identification of 23 individual blue whales. Blue whale vocalisations were detected on all 31 sonobuoys deployed (114 h). In total, 41 blue whales were photo-identified from South Georgia between 2011 and 2020, none of which matched the 517 whales in the current Antarctic catalogue. These recent data suggest that blue whales have started to return to South Georgia waters, but continued visual and acoustic surveys are required to monitor any future changes in their distribution and abundance.

scholarly journals A new blue whale song-type described for the Arabian Sea and Western Indian Ocean

2020 ◽  
Vol 43 ◽  
pp. 495-515
Author(s):  
S Cerchio ◽  
A Willson ◽  
EC Leroy ◽  
C Muirhead ◽  
S Al Harthi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Indian Ocean ◽  
Arabian Sea ◽  
Western Indian Ocean ◽  
Small Population ◽  
Song Type ◽  
Blue Whale ◽  
Conservation Action ◽  
Status Assessment ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
Blue Whales

Blue whales Balaenoptera musculus in the Indian Ocean (IO) are currently thought to represent 2 or 3 subspecies (B. m. intermedia, B. m. brevicauda, B. m. indica), and believed to be structured into 4 populations, each with a diagnostic song-type. Here we describe a previously unreported song-type that implies the probable existence of a population that has been undetected or conflated with another population. The novel song-type was recorded off Oman in the northern IO/Arabian Sea, off the western Chagos Archipelago in the equatorial central IO, and off Madagascar in the southwestern IO. As this is the only blue whale song that has been identified in the western Arabian Sea, we label it the ‘Northwest Indian Ocean’ song-type to distinguish it from other regional song-types. Spatiotemporal variation suggested a distribution west of 70°E, with potential affinity for the northern IO/Arabian Sea, and only minor presence in the southwestern IO. Timing of presence off Oman suggested that intensive illegal Soviet whaling that took 1294 blue whales in the 1960s likely targeted this population, as opposed to the more widely distributed ‘Sri Lanka’ acoustic population as previously assumed. Based upon geographic distribution and potential aseasonal reproduction found in the Soviet catch data, we suggest that if there is a northern IO subspecies (B. m. indica), it is likely this population. Moreover, the potentially restricted range, intensive historic whaling, and the fact that the song-type has been previously undetected, suggests a small population that is in critical need of status assessment and conservation action.

scholarly journals First confirmed sightings of Blue Whales Balaenoptera musculus Linnaeus, 1758 (Mammalia: Cetartiodactyla: Balaenopteridae) in the Philippines since the 19th century

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 17875-17888
Author(s):  
Jo Marie Vera Acebes ◽  
Joshua Neal Silberg ◽  
Timothy John Gardner ◽  
Edna Rex Sabater ◽  
Angelico Jose Cavada Tiongson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
19Th Century ◽  
Geographic Location ◽  
The Philippines ◽  
Balaenoptera Musculus ◽  
Blue Whale ◽  
Photo Identification ◽  
Range Edge ◽  
Ocean Productivity ◽  
The 19Th Century ◽  
Blue Whales

For over two centuries there were no records of Blue Whales Balaenoptera musculus in the Philippines. Whalers recorded Blue Whales in the Philippines in the 19th century, and the next confirmed sighting in the country was of a mother and calf in 2004.  Since then 33 subsequent Blue Whale sightings of potentially one individual were recorded between 2004 and 2019, all within the central region of the Philippines around the Bohol Sea.  This individual, recognized through photo-identification, was sighted on at least 13 occasions during eight different years: 2010, 2011, 2012, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019.  The geographic location and timing of the sightings (January to July) suggest that Blue Whales in the Philippines may extend the outer range edge of the Indo-Australian population that migrate between western Australia, Indonesia, and East Timor.  Blue Whale sightings in the Bohol Sea coincide with times of high ocean productivity, although further investigation is needed to determine if they are actually feeding in this region.  Acoustic studies and photo-identification matching with other Blue Whale catalogues will clarify the stock identity of Blue Whales in the Philippines and their relation to the rest of the Blue Whale population, with implications for the conservation of this endangered species across multiple jurisdictions.

Zwischen Heroismus und Antiheroismus Ligetis Mikropolyphonie in 2001 revisited

2016 ◽  
Vol 57 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 73-90
Author(s):  
Beate Kutschke
Keyword(s):  
Avant Garde ◽  
Time Period ◽  
The 1960S

This article re-investigates the use of Ligeti’s second movement of his Requiem “Kyrie” (1963/1965) in Stanley Kubrick’s 2001 — A Space Odyssey (1968). It does so in light of allusions to heroic models and the – obviously – heroic Zarathustra fanfare, both of which are pervasive in Kubrick’s film. The article aims at determining compositional means that refer to heroic ideas in avant-garde music of the 1960s, a time period in which radically new and skeptical views of heroism came to the fore that also affected the articulation of the heroic in music.

scholarly journals From conservation genetics to conservation genomics: a genome-wide assessment of blue whales ( Balaenoptera musculus ) in Australian feeding aggregations

2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 170925 ◽  
Author(s):  
Catherine R. M. Attard ◽  
Luciano B. Beheregaray ◽  
Jonathan Sandoval-Castillo ◽  
K. Curt S. Jenner ◽  
Peter C. Gill ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Population Structure ◽  
Adaptive Divergence ◽  
Balaenoptera Musculus ◽  
Blue Whale ◽  
Conservation Genomics ◽  
Next Generation Sequencing Technology ◽  
Genome Wide ◽  
A Genome ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Blue Whales

Genetic datasets of tens of markers have been superseded through next-generation sequencing technology with genome-wide datasets of thousands of markers. Genomic datasets improve our power to detect low population structure and identify adaptive divergence. The increased population-level knowledge can inform the conservation management of endangered species, such as the blue whale ( Balaenoptera musculus ). In Australia, there are two known feeding aggregations of the pygmy blue whale ( B. m. brevicauda ) which have shown no evidence of genetic structure based on a small dataset of 10 microsatellites and mtDNA. Here, we develop and implement a high-resolution dataset of 8294 genome-wide filtered single nucleotide polymorphisms, the first of its kind for blue whales. We use these data to assess whether the Australian feeding aggregations constitute one population and to test for the first time whether there is adaptive divergence between the feeding aggregations. We found no evidence of neutral population structure and negligible evidence of adaptive divergence. We propose that individuals likely travel widely between feeding areas and to breeding areas, which would require them to be adapted to a wide range of environmental conditions. This has important implications for their conservation as this blue whale population is likely vulnerable to a range of anthropogenic threats both off Australia and elsewhere.

scholarly journals A Generational Approach to Somatic Cultures: Modes of Attention to the Young Body in Contemporary Portuguese Society

Societies ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 102
Author(s):  
Vitor Ferreira
Keyword(s):  
Research Data ◽  
The Body ◽  
Recent History ◽  
Generational Change ◽  
Youth Cultures ◽  
Time Period ◽  
Body Design ◽  
History Of ◽  
Portuguese Society ◽  
The 1960S

The aims of this article are to identify, describe, and sociologically understand the different somatic cultures in contemporary Portuguese society—i.e., the distinct ways in which different generations have thought about, used and lived the body from the time of the Estado Novo (the New State, which was the regime that governed Portugal from 1933 to 1974) until the present day. Beginning with the hypothesis that there are different, historically institutionalized, somatic modes of attention to the “young body”, the author uses the most relevant institutions of the socialization of the body as analytical dimensions and investigates their main incorporation strategies and models of corporality. This hypothesis is informed by different generational conditions that change people’s uses of their body, their experiences of living in it, and their thoughts on the matter. Using these analytical dimensions, the article presents a typology that identifies, describes, and comprehends the three somatic cultures in the recent history of Portuguese society: the culture of physical invigoration that forms part of the legacy of the New State; the culture of physical rejuvenation inherited from youth cultures of the 1960s and 70s, along with the growth of body design industries in the 1980s; and the culture of physical perfection inherited from the biotech culture in the 1990s, accompanied by the radicalization of the body design industry. This approach entails the discussion and reinterpretation of a corpus of historical literature, presenting research data on the body in a defined time period (1930 to date) and space (Portugal), analyzed from an embodied perspective of generational change.

Artefacts of Cognition: the Use of Clay Tokens in a Neo-Assyrian Provincial Administration

2014 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 289-306 ◽  
Author(s):  
John MacGinnis ◽  
M. Willis Monroe ◽  
Dirk Wicke ◽  
Timothy Matney
Keyword(s):  
Near East ◽  
Ancient Near East ◽  
Writing System ◽  
Near Eastern ◽  
Cognitive Value ◽  
Administrative Culture ◽  
Time Period ◽  
First Millennium ◽  
Provincial Capital ◽  
The 1960S

The study of clay tokens in the Ancient Near East has focused, for the most part, on their role as antecedents to the cuneiform script. Starting with Pierre Amiet and Maurice Lambert in the 1960s the theory was put forward that tokens, or calculi, represent an early cognitive attempt at recording. This theory was taken up by Denise Schmandt-Besserat who studied a large diachronic corpus of Near Eastern tokens. Since then little has been written except in response to Schmandt-Besserat's writings. Most discussions of tokens have generally focused on the time period between the eighth and fourth millennium bc with the assumption that token use drops off as writing gains ground in administrative contexts. Now excavations in southeastern Turkey at the site of Ziyaret Tepe — the Neo-Assyrian provincial capital Tušhan — have uncovered a corpus of tokens dating to the first millennium bc. This is a significant new contribution to the documented material. These tokens are found in association with a range of other artefacts of administrative culture — tablets, dockets, sealings and weights — in a manner which indicates that they had cognitive value concurrent with the cuneiform writing system and suggests that tokens were an important tool in Neo-Assyrian imperial administration.

scholarly journals Historical Changes and Current Distribution of Caribou, Rangifer tarandus, in Quebec

2003 ◽  
Vol 117 (3) ◽  
pp. 399 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rehaume Courtois ◽  
Jean-Pierre Ouellet ◽  
André Gingras ◽  
Claude Dussault ◽  
Laurier Breton ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Boreal Forest ◽  
19Th Century ◽  
Current Distribution ◽  
Rangifer Tarandus ◽  
Population Decline ◽  
Current Data ◽  
Southern Limit ◽  
Barren Ground ◽  
1960S And 1970S ◽  
The 1960S

We examined published historical information, reports on aerial surveys conducted since 1953, and harvest data collected since 1971 to describe changes in the distribution and abundance of Caribou (Rangifer tarandus) in Québec. The southern limit of the Caribou distribution diminished considerably in the late 19th century, and the decline in numbers probably continued until the 1960s and 1970s east of the 62nd meridian. South of the 49th parallel, only four small populations still persist. Despite the fact that all Caribou of the province were assigned to the same sub-species (R. t. caribou), three ecotypes with specific habitats and behaviour are found. The Barren-Ground ecotype, the only migratory form, is found north of the 52nd parallel. This ecotype currently occupies ≈ 255 000 km2 in fall and winter, mainly in the ecological subzones of the forest tundra and the taiga. The Barren-Ground Caribou was characterized by a very low abundance from the end of the 19th century until the mid-1950s, but increased markedly thereafter reaching over a million individuals at the beginning of the 1990s. Populations of the Mountain ecotype have been identified in the southeastern and, possibly, in the northeastern parts of the province. The latter Mountain population is virtually unknown. The southeastern population is sedentary and uses mainly the boreal forest. This population has decreased over the last century and currently numbers only ≈ 140 individuals. Finally, the Forest-Dwelling ecotype is found discontinuously, mainly between the 49th and 55th parallels. Its current distribution covers ≈ 235 000 km2, mainly east of the 72nd meridian. This sedentary ecotype is found almost exclusively in the boreal forest, principally in areas with long forest fire cycles. Its abundance has also decreased over the years. Large Forest-Dwelling populations still persisted during the 1950s and 1960s, but they apparently disappeared. The current abundance is not known precisely, but based on density estimates and considering the current distribution, it probably does not exceed 3000 individuals. Current data are insufficient to identify precisely the causes of the population decline, although hunting seems to be an important proximal cause.Nous avons utilisé les données historiques publiées, les rapports d’inventaires aériens réalisés depuis 1953 et les statistiques de récolte sportive colligées depuis 1971 pour décrire les changements dans la répartition et l’abondance du Caribou (Rangifer tarandus) au Québec. La limite méridionale de l’aire de répartition a beaucoup diminué à la fin du 19e siècle et la régression s’est probablement poursuivie durant les années 1960 et 1970 à l’est du 62e méridien. Au sud du 49e parallèle, on ne retrouve plus que quatre petites populations. Bien que tous les caribous du Québec soient considérés appartenir à la même sous-espèce (R. t. caribou), on distingue trois écotypes fréquentant des milieux différents et arborant des comportements spécifiques. Au nord du 52e parallèle, on retrouve l’écotype Toundrique, lequel est migrateur. Ces Caribous se répartissent sur ≈ 255 000 km2 durant l’automne et l’hiver, principalement dans les sous-zones écologiques de la toundra forestière et de la taïga. Cet écotype était peu abondant entre la fin du 19e siècle et le milieu des années 1950, mais il s’est accru considérablement pour atteindre plus d’un million d’individus au début des années 1990. Une population de l’écotype Montagnard est présente au sud-est de la province et une autre existe possiblement au nord-est. Cette dernière n’est pas bien connue. Celle du sud-est utilise principalement la forêt boréale. Cette population sédentaire a diminué considérablement depuis une centaine d’années et elle ne compte plus qu’environ 140 individus. Finalement, l’écotype Forestier est présent de façon discontinue, principalement entre les 49e et 55e parallèles. Ces Caribous sont également sédentaires. On les retrouve presque exclusivement en forêt boréale, principalement là où le cycle des feux de forêt est long. Leur répartition actuelle couvre ≈ 234 000 km2, principalement à l’est du 72e méridien. D’importantes populations forestières existaient encore durant les années 1950 et 1960, mais elles semblent avoir disparu. L’abondance actuelle n’est pas connue mais elle pourrait difficilement dépasser 3000 individus si l’on se base sur les estimations de la densité et de l’aire de répartition. Les données disponibles sont insuffisantes pour identifier les causes exactes des diminutions d’effectifs bien que la chasse semble une cause proximale importante.

Sperm whale abundance estimates from acoustic surveys of the Ionian Sea and Straits of Sicily in 2003

2007 ◽  
Vol 87 (1) ◽  
pp. 353-357 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. Lewis ◽  
D. Gillespie ◽  
C. Lacey ◽  
J. Matthews ◽  
M. Danbolt ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sperm Whale ◽  
Western Mediterranean ◽  
Small Sample ◽  
Line Transect ◽  
Ionian Sea ◽  
Sperm Whales ◽  
Detection Function ◽  
Abundance Estimate ◽  
Abundance Estimates ◽  
Acoustic Surveys

Acoustic surveys for sperm whales, using line-transect methodology, were carried out in the Ionian Sea and Straits of Sicily, Mediterranean Sea, in 2003. A total of 17 whales were detected along 3846 km of designed survey track in the Ionian Sea, and no whales along 892 km in the Straits of Sicily. This total was insufficient to estimate a detection function, so further data were obtained from quasi-random passages made elsewhere in the western Mediterranean in the same year. The encounters included several tight aggregations with inter-animal spacing less than 1 km, primarily from the western Mediterranean. Including individuals from these aggregations distorted the detection function due to the small sample sizes. No such aggregations were found during formal survey of the two areas of interest, and the aggregations were therefore excluded from detection function estimation. The resultant effective strip half-width was 10.0 km (n=40). On the assumption that g(0)=1, the resulting abundance estimates for the Ionian Sea were 62 (with 95% lognormal confidence limits of [24,165]), and 0 for the Straits of Sicily. The low abundance estimate for the Ionian Sea indicates that careful monitoring of the population is needed in the future. During passages along the Hellenic Trench, that were not part of the designed survey, several sperm whales including two aggregations were detected, suggesting that this may be a higher density area and ought to be considered as a separate stratum when designing future surveys.

scholarly journals STATISTICAL DETECTION OF SPATIAL PLANT PATTERNS UNDER THE EFFECT OF FOREST USE

2012 ◽  
Vol 05 (06) ◽  
pp. 1250054
Author(s):  
I. LÓPEZ ◽  
T. STANDOVÁR ◽  
J. GARAY ◽  
Z. VARGA ◽  
M. GÁMEZ
Keyword(s):  
Change Point ◽  
Bootstrap Method ◽  
Likelihood Estimation ◽  
Point Estimate ◽  
Line Transect ◽  
Tree Seedlings ◽  
Land System ◽  
Time Period ◽  
Forest Use ◽  
Floristic Data

The analysis of the consequences of land use (in particular forest use) may be considered as a partial step towards an integrated modeling of a land system. In the paper a forest territory is considered, where a gap-cut is made, and after a given time period the eventual change in the spatial distribution of undergrowth plants and tree seedlings is to be detected. Floristic data are collected along a line transect. A method for the detection of the change in the plant distributions along the transect is proposed to see whether this occurs at the geometric frontier of the human intervention. Since in the considered case the distribution of the change-point estimate is not known, as a substitute of its confidence interval, the so-called change-interval is calculated, using an adaptation of the bootstrap method. As an illustration, for a concrete plant species, the maximum likelihood estimation of the change-point and the calculation of the above mentioned change-interval is presented. Finally, the validation of the proposed method against some typical ecological situations is also presented, which provides a justification of the used algorithms.

Marketing as a response to paradox and norms in the 1960s and 1970s

2013 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 47-70 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maureen A. Bourassa ◽  
Peggy H. Cunningham ◽  
Jay M. Handelman
Keyword(s):  
Social Norms ◽  
Marketing Strategy ◽  
Strategic Marketing ◽  
Chain Store ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Time Period ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Strategic Behaviors ◽  
1960S And 1970S ◽  
The 1960S

PurposeThis study seeks to investigate the interaction between marketers' strategic behaviors, social norms, and societal stakeholders within a particular historical time period, the 1960s and 1970s.Design/methodology/approachThe study's findings are based on an analysis of two dominant retail industry trade publications, Chain Store Age and Progressive Grocer.FindingsThe analysis reveals an intriguing array of strategic marketing activity throughout these two decades not captured in considerations of marketing strategy at the time. The retailers examined engaged in two interesting behaviors. First, they responded to a wide range of stakeholder demands in a paradoxical fashion. Second, as retailers were confronted with social norms, instead of conforming to these norms they worked to help influence and shape them to their own advantage. This examination of retailers' behaviors over two decades has allowed the authors to present an intriguing new dimension to the understanding of marketing strategy.Originality/valueThe study found that throughout the 1960s and 1970s, marketers appeared to be actively engaged in a social dialogue. Through this dialogue, they not only responded to norms, but also attempted to shape the norms that came to define legitimate behavior for the marketers. This kind of strategic marketing endeavor was not accounted for in the managerial school of thought that dominated marketing thinking at the time.

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